


Emotion

by still_lycoris



Series: Blake's 7 Daemon Universe [1]
Category: Blake's 7
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Daemons, Daemons, Fusion, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-28
Updated: 2013-12-28
Packaged: 2018-01-06 12:40:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1106926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/still_lycoris/pseuds/still_lycoris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vila thinks that Avon's behaviour around his daemon just isn't natural.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Emotion

One of the things that Vila thought was weirdest about Avon – and there were a _lot_ of weird things about Avon – was the way Avon treated his daemon.

Vila had been in a lot of dangerous situations in his time. He had seen a lot of people reacting to those, a lot of people panicking and a lot of people celebrating after they hadn’t died. There was one thing that all of these situations had in common – people tended to touch their daemons. A panicked grab, a reassuring rub, even an affectionate pet. His Corette would scramble all over him or cuddle tightly into his neck or huddle warmly in his hands after a job had gone bad or they had nearly been shot down by the Federation again. Vila liked it like that. It was the only way of proving that everything was okay. Everybody did it.

Everybody except Avon.

Vila didn’t think he’d seen Avon touch his bobcat in all the time they had travelled on _the Liberator_. She didn’t even rub against Avon’s legs or lie close to his lap when Avon was sitting down. Whenever Vila looked at her, she was sitting or standing beside Avon, watching whatever Avon was watching. When Avon was arguing with Blake, she would tense up or snarl at Blake’s painted dog. The one time Corette had jumped on her back in fun, the reaction had been … unpleasant. But Vila had never seen her go to Avon and he’d never seen Avon reach for her.

“It’s not normal, that’s what it is,” he told Corette as Corette hung upside down off the ceiling. 

“Well, he’s a bit different,” she said, dropping down and landing neatly on Vila’s head, then sliding down to her favourite place at Vila’s throat. Vila was always glad that she was so small. A marmoset was perfectly shaped, she could get her little claws into things that he couldn’t and then cuddle safely in his hands if anything threatened them. It was much harder to hide your daemon if she was a boxer dog, like Gan’s.

“A _bit_ different?” he snorted, reaching up to rub her soft fur. “He’s a machine, Cor. He’s a machine and if it weren’t for the way she squares up to Blake’s daemon when they’re getting at each other, I’d swear she wasn’t even linked to him.”

Corette nibbled his ear affectionately which Vila took as agreement. The time he’d mentioned it to Gan, Gan hadn’t agreed.

“He just doesn’t like to show any sort of emotion, you know that,” he said, rubbing his daemon’s ears gently. “His daemon is probably the same. She won’t want anybody to know she cares about him, just as much as he wants you to think he’s separate from her.”

“I’m telling you, it’s still not normal,” Vila muttered. “He’s a machine, not a person.”

“Well, that’s probably true,” Gan laughed, scratching his daemon’s ears now. “But there’s a lot of people like that. Best to just get used to it.”

It wasn’t exactly what Vila _wasn’t_ used to it by now. It was just that he thought it was _weird_. Why would anybody care so much about what people thought of you that they wouldn’t want to touch their own daemon? Nobody else cared that much. He’d watched them all after danger, watched the way Blake and Gan scratched the ears of their dogs and Jenna ran her fingers over her brown falcon’s feathers. But Avon never so much as looked at his. Vila found himself more comfortable with the daemonless Cally than Avon’s strange lack of reactions.

Not that he was totally comfortable with Cally’s lack of a daemon either. It was just weird, seeing her moving around and knowing that she didn’t have one. Nobody on Cally’s planet had a daemon. She found theirs strange and still didn’t really understand the Taboo that stopped you touching another’s daemon. Vila found that weird too but still somehow less unnatural than Avon.

“You watch him a lot,” Corette commented.

“Well, it’s always a good idea to keep your eye on the people that are bigger than you,” Vila protested. “You know that! Unless you fancy taking on that bobcat in a fight!”

“I’d just pull her tail and dodge, she’d never catch me. Until Avon punched you.”

Vila snorted, although it wasn’t terribly funny. He suspected that Avon could punch _very_ hard.

He carried on watching Avon, although he tried to do it less now that Corette had pointed it out. He didn’t want Avon to comment on it. It was never a good idea to find out what awful thing that Avon would say if he noticed anything you were doing. He always seemed to have something to say. Vila wished he was as quick on his feet.

They were going down onto the planet to try and make contact with a rebel leader that Blake had heard about. Avon didn’t want to go down because he thought it was stupid and a waste of time to speak with backward idiots who might not even exist. Vila didn’t want to go down because apparently, this planet was covered in plants and insects that liked to eat you. Blake didn’t seem to think that either of these objections were good enough. They needed to make contact and that was that.

They landed in what seemed to be a jungle. Vila immediately reached for Corette. He didn’t want her getting excited and going tree climbing, which she sometimes did. For one thing, it would hurt! Corette wriggled in a scolding sort of way and then crawled out of his hand and into his sleeve, settling comfortably as they began to walk, picking their way through rotting leads and creepers. Vila tried to keep alert. He didn’t fancy getting digested by a plant.

He wasn’t alert enough to stop it though. There were numerous trailing vines which they had pushed aside without trouble. It just didn’t occur to him to think that any of them might be dangerous, not until Avon’s bobcat ducked beneath one and a strand of it brushed against her back.

The vine moved so fast that it was almost invisible. It had whipped around the bobcat before Vila could even blink and shot upwards at the same time, tangling Avon’s daemon in more vines as it did.

Avon gave a cry of pure agony, stumbling forwards and reaching up helplessly to the struggling, spitting daemon above him. A drop of blood splashed down onto his cheek and Vila realised that the vines were barbed.

“Avon, stay back!” Blake shouted, drawing his gun.

Avon didn’t listen. Vila grabbed him, trying to haul him back. Avon struggled wildly, still reaching upwards.

“Let me go! Let me go! Lysandra! _Lysandra!_ ”

“Blake will get her down, Avon, stay still!”

Blake was taking a careful aim, clearly working out where best to fit the strange bundle of vines which was slowly beginning to descend towards the daemon in its grip. Vila wished Blake would shoot a little quicker. Avon was grey and shaking, his daemon clearly too far away for comfort. Vila remembered a time when a job had gone bad and one of the women had yelled at him and her bird daemon had grabbed Corette in his talons and lifted her up. It had hurt like hell and Vila had wondered if he might die of it. He knew exactly how much pain Avon was in right now.

Blake fired. The was a low groan, horribly alive sounding and Lysandra dropped in a tangle of vines, landing with a heavy crash on the ground. Avon gave a hoarse cry and fainted dead away in Vila’s arms. Vila staggered, going to his knees in an attempt not to drop him. Corette leapt out of his sleeve and darted to where Blake’s painted dog was already trying to untangle the remaining vines. Vila couldn’t help yelping as he felt the reflected pain. The barbs were sharp.

“We can’t stay here,” Blake said, looking around. “Anything alive for miles will have heard that.”

“I can’t carry him,” Vila said, looking anxiously down at Avon. He’d never seen him look so white before. Maybe he was dying, it might be too late and if they tried to carry him it might just get them all killed …

Blake moved forward and put his fingers to Avon’s neck, checking his pulse. He gave a sigh of relief and turned to his daemon.

“Tema, carry her,” he ordered and bent down, lifting Avon up far more easily than Vila ever could have done. The painted dog carefully gathered Avon’s bobcat in her jaws. Corette leapt back onto Vila’s shoulder, cuddling against his neck uneasily. They watched carefully for vines the rest of the walk.

Blake found them a small cave and laid Avon down at the back of it. His daemon laid Lysandra next to him. Corette darted over and began to pick carefully at the remaining vine barbs, laying them in a neat little heap beside them. Vila moved over, looking worriedly down at Avon. He was still unconscious. Was he breathing properly?

“Listen,” Blake said, touching Vila’s shoulder. “You need to stay here and watch over Avon. I have to go on and meet Vrash, it’s too important to let this get in the way.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Vila asked doubtfully. “Jenna said you shouldn’t go alone … ”

“She didn’t know what would happen,” Blake said. “We can’t wait for Avon to improve. They’ve both had a shock, it might be a while before Avon even wakes up, let alone before he’s healthy enough to travel. Just watch over them until _the Liberator_ comes back into orbit and have you both teleported back up. I’ll come with good news, you’ll see.”

Vila wanted to argue but he knew better than to try. He watched Blake and Tema move away from them, trying to resist the urge to shout comments about how it was all going to go horribly wrong. Once Blake was out of sight, he moved over to check on Avon. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully – at least, his breathing was better and his face was less white. Corette had carefully removed everything she could from the bobcat’s fur. She indulging Vila’s curiosity now, running her fingers over fur that she would never be allowed t touch if Avon was awake.

“It’s quite soft really,” she said, leaping up onto Vila’s shoulder. “She’ll be all right.”

Vila was relieved. It wasn’t exactly that he liked Avon – he disliked Avon a lot of the time really – but he didn’t want to see him die. Generally, people dying was bad. It reminded him that he wasn’t actually immortal. Corette nibbled his ear reassuringly and they settled at the front of the cave together to keep watch.

Well, he _meant_ to keep watch. He didn’t _mean_ to fall asleep. Watching the edges of the jungle got boring and his eyelids got heavy and then – 

He woke up when something moved behind him. Vila was tempted to jerk up quickly but something – nosiness really – kept him completely still.

“That idiot’s asleep,” Avon said, sounding irritated. He gave a soft groan and Vila opened one eye a crack to see him pulling himself properly upright. He reached out his hand.

“Are you all right? I was so … I thought … ”

Vila had never heard Avon found like that before. It made him feel uncomfortable.

“Dearest, I’m fine,” Lysandra said, her voice soft and warm. Vila watched as she put her paws on Avon’s chest and leaned up to lick his cheek. “You thought something so small would kill us? My dear fool.”

She began to purr as Avon stroked her tenderly. Vila felt embarrassed and almost ashamed. He shouldn’t be seeing this. It wasn’t fair.

Corette clearly felt the same. She suddenly rolled off his shoulder with a soft plop, shaking her head as though she’d just woken up. Vila pretended to jerk awake too, looking quickly out of the cave to make sure nobody was sneaking up on them. When he looked around, Avon was glaring at him. Lysandra stood at his side, as usual just slightly further away than Vila would have expected.

“Avon! You’re all right! Corette got all that stuff off your daemon, it was all sticky and nasty with little spikes in - ”

“I’m fine,” Avon interrupted coldly. “Where is Blake?”

“Well, he went off to make the rendezvous … ”

“That idiot!” Avon snapped, getting to his feet and wincing as he did. “He’s going to get himself killed. Come on.”

“Are you sure we shouldn’t wait? Blake was very sure, he said that he’d come back … ”

“Shut up and come on!” Avon ordered and Vila followed, complaining a lot less than he might have done normally. He felt … odd. He wasn’t exactly sorry that he’d seen Avon actually being a human for once but at the same time, he felt strange about it. Uncomfortable.

Corette bit his ear tenderly and scratched at him with her tiny claws, part comfort, part scold. Neither of them would talk about it again but they wouldn’t forget it either.

Some things that you heard changed everything.

**Author's Note:**

> written for the 2013 12dayschristmas challenge on livejournal


End file.
